“The investments in the telecommunications market had not been so high since the Brazilian privatization in 1998,” said Renato Pasquini, Frost & Sullivan’s industry analyst, during a presentation of the consulting firm’s newest study on the Brazilian telecommunications services market.

The investments of the biggest telecommunications groups are expected to total about U.S. $35 billion (R$ 62.8 billion) for the period of 2011 to 2016. The Spanish group Telefónica, for instance, accounts for the largest portion: $13.5 billion (R$ 24.3 billion), an increase of 52% its investments in the country. In its study, Frost highlights the expansion to outside São Paulo and the investments in fiber.

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Brazilian telecom market to reach $97B by 2016, study says

Carlos Slim’s América Móvil has said is investing U.S. $6.2 billion (R$ 10 billion) for 2011-2012. Brazilian Oi might close this year with investments of U.S. $2.7 billion (R$ 5 billion) and TIM planning investments of U.S. $4.7 billion (R$ 8.5 billion) between this year and 2013. “Nextel is doing its biggest investments ever in the country, mostly due to the 3G launch,” Pasquini said.

More than three quarters of the telecom industry’s revenue of U.S. $66 billion last year came from the three big groups. Spanish group Telefônica leads with 27.9%, followed by América Móvil (24.3%) and Oi (23.8%). Italy’s TIM accounts for 12.2%, and GVT (owned by French group Vivendi) has 2%.

The Brazilian telecommunications services market is forecast to jump from U.S. $66 billion in 2010 to $97 billion in 2016, driven mostly by the increase of pay-TV, broadband and mobile data, according to the Frost study.

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